Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Growing up in the 1960’s and ‘70’s in the greater Los Angeles area of Orange County, Rock music was the popular genre for kids to listen to: From Elvis songs, to Beach songs, to the British Invasion, to Jimmy Hendricks and hundreds after, including “heavy Metal” songs. One of those was "Highway to Hell", a song by Australian rock band AC/DC. It is the opening track of their 1979 album Highway to Hell. AC/DC had made several studio albums before and were constantly promoting them via a grueling tour schedule, referred to by songwriter Angus Young as being on a highway to hell, hence the name. The band says that the title and lyrics reflect the arduous nature of touring constantly and hellish life on the road. But, the actual lyrics reveal a darker meaning and statement behind the song.
The first verse says: “Living easy, living free. Season ticket on a one-way ride. Asking nothing, leave me be. Taking everything in my stride. Don't need reason, don't need rhyme. Ain't nothing I would rather do. Going down, party time. My friends are gonna be there too. I'm on the highway to hell. On the highway to hell. Highway to hell. I'm on the highway to hell.” The concept of “Easy Street” (the carefree lifestyle in a state of wealth, independence, or ease) has been around along tome and the life goal of multitudes pursuing life’s journey on their own humanistic terms; outside and authority of God and His guiding Word. Scores of secular people think of living godly lives by biblical boundaries as binding their will, as sin has no boundaries and anything goes, but sin is a Season ticket on a one-way ride and it is the Broadway to eternal destruction. The blind-to-the-truth, existential hedonists run for pleasure, luxury and party time fun with like-minded friends, desiring no voice of experience or reason in their ear, because there is nothing they’d rather do. They’re going down the highway to Hell.
The second verse says: “No stop signs, speed limit. Nobody's gonna slow me down. Like a wheel, gonna spin it. Nobody's gonna mess me around. Hey Satan, paid my dues. Playing in a rocking band. Hey mama, look at me. I'm on my way to the promised land, whoo! I'm on the highway to hell. Highway to hell.” Without the Bible, the lawless life has no stop signs or speed limits. They believe that neither God nor God’s people will stop them. No God as a Police Office or Judge, their wild ride runs out of control and they admit that Satan (the grand adversary of man; the devil or prince of darkness, who steals, kills and destroys) is the one that paid their dues, but little do they realize that there is hell to pay in the end. In their minds, it is just play, play, play and look at me getting away with it all. They even mock God by referencing to this destructive, egocentric lifestyle as their demonic promised land, not realizing that willful sin, rebellious disobedience towards their holy and just Creator, and mad existence on the highway to hell is death.
John 3:19-20 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”
The song concludes with these maliciously defiant words of life’s final destination: “Don't stop me. And I'm going down. All the way. Whoa! I'm on the highway to hell.” They’ve made a conscious decision to reject the narrow gate of Jesus Christ (the Light of the world). Moral evil is any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God. We choose what road that we travel and ultimately throw ourselves into hell. Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to true life and eternal life in heaven. Take the next offramp, get off the highway to hell and be one of the few to find the straight and narrow path to the kingdom of heaven in Jesus Christ – the Way, the Truth and the Life as Savior of the world.
In Christ, Brian
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